


Stupid, Crazy in Love

by limpfishkit



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Matchmaking, No Smut, Romance with a capital R, Slow Burn, clueless au kinda, coffee shops and uni lyf, idk fam this is like still a work in progress, yuta and ten are matchmakers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-16 03:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17541452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limpfishkit/pseuds/limpfishkit
Summary: Handsome manly-man Nakamoto Yuta (21), local love guru, ready to set up everyone he knows with their dream guy. Will have to charge in coffee for now but once he works out a suitable exchange rate to won will let you know. Too busy working on other people to find a person for himself.





	1. Act 1: The Start of the Drama

**Author's Note:**

> i literally watched clueless for the first time and was inspired. this does Not follow the same plot but is similar in concept. hope yall enjoy

“I don’t know, Jaeminnie, are you old enough for boys yet?” Yuta whines, stopping outside the café. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Hyung, I’m in college! I’m old enough for everything!” Jaemin whines back.

“Almost everything,” Ten winks.

After a pointed glare, Jaemin leads them inside.

Neo is Yuta’s second favourite coffee shop on campus, second only to City, because City has Sicheng. And Yuta is nothing if not Sicheng’s biggest fan. But Neo is… neo. He loves that the staff have taken working in a coffee shop and made it fun, with modern decorations and bright music, a new weird tasting and strangely named combination taking up the ‘Cup of the Day’ chalkboard each time he visits. Which is more often than probably healthy. He even has his own order that the staff have put on the menu and named Yukkuri – because it takes them so long to make.

“Anyway hyung, Jeno’s the same age as me! He’s an adult too, we can make our own decisions. This is real love, and nothing can stop us!”

Yuta rolls his eyes and smiles. He’s proud that Jaemin’s become such a drama queen – one of his and Ten’s finest works to date.

But he still had to put in time to make sure this worked.

“I don’t know,” he repeats, slower. “Ten, do you remember when you and Johnny got together?”

Ten catches on and nods. “God, it was just after I broke up with Hansol. He was so slimy, just using me to get to Yuta.” Yuta glows when Ten manages to tear up. “It just destroyed my confidence, I wasn’t ready for a new relationship! And then Johnny came along. He was so sweet, but I was ruined, I couldn’t accept him. And I strung him on for weeks like that, he didn’t deserve it. Love like ours managed to forge on, and here we are today, but if Johnny wasn’t so perfect and strong for me… it might have been the end.”

Ten flops backwards in his chair. Jaemin is, at this point, half enchanted and half cynical. He’s never been Ten’s biggest fan, citing that ‘he stole my brother’, but Ten’s not Yuta’s best friend for nothing.

To tell the truth, Ten and Johnny’s get together isn’t quite so dramatic. Hansol and Yuta were almost a thing back in senior year of high school, but Yuta wasn’t willing to date when they were so close to college and going separate ways. Johnny was around but not really involved with Ten, so when Hansol came up to a blackout drunk Ten at a party and came onto him, it backfired. Big-time. After discovering his sneakery and slimery, neither Yuta nor Ten wanted anything to do with him, and Johnny was around to comfort Ten. Yuta wasn’t quite so lucky, but he wouldn’t let his younger brother know how upset he had been, so they respun the tale.

“My point is this, Jaeminnie: you can’t know that he’s the right guy for you until he shows you how much he loves you. Words mean nothing, he needs to  _do_ something, you know?”

“Is that right, Yuta-san?” Taeyong says in Japanese, arriving with the group’s coffee.

“Yes, Taeyong-sshi. You know Ten doesn’t understand that, it’s rude,” Yuta responds pointedly in Korean.

“Sorry, hard to break a habit,” Taeyong grins. Taeyong is Yuta’s regular server at Neo, because he was the first to memorise the Yukkuri and demanded praise when he finally managed to perfect it. Plus, he studied Japanese in school and likes to practice when Yuta's in the mood to chat. “So who’s man isn’t showing his love for them?”

“Mine,” Jaemin cries.

Success, Yuta thinks. We’ve got him, hook, line, and sinker.

Now, Yuta doesn’t want to hurt his brother. In fact, it’s the last thing he would ever want to do. That’s not what this plan is in the slightest, thank you very much. He and Ten are merely supplanting the idea that Jeno needs to go above and beyond for Jaemin (which he most certainly does) so that the next phase of the plan goes down swimmingly.

Ten has arranged it so that Sicheng’s roommate, Renjun, will bring his best friend, Jeno, to Jaemin’s dorm this night so that he can recreate a scene from Jaemin’s favourite movie – Easy A. Yes, the scene that is a recreation of The Breakfast Club. Yuta’s always known Jaemin was a poser, but that’s his younger brother and he loves him anyway.

So Jeno will come to Jaemin’s dorm, blast Jaemin’s favourite song out of his speaker, and profess his love in poem for Jaemin. Yuta has curated the whole speech and song and approved it all in advance. He’s currently being held hostage at Ten’s dorm with Sicheng and Johnny. Ten has threatened to send Lucas to room with Renjun and Sicheng for a month if they fail to get Jeno there on time, which means he will Definitely be there. Ten has also threatened to ruin his chance of having any social life or happiness if he messes up even slightly. Yuta doesn’t know how he would do that, but seconds the sentiment – if Jeno screws up, he Suffers.

And for now, all they have to do is get Jaemin feeling romantic and the slightest bit vulnerable.

“Ah, that’s no good, Jaemin-ah! You need a boy who will treat you right, show the whole world he loves them!” Taeyong is sweet, but Yuta needs him to leave Now so he doesn’t ruin anything.

“And it’s not you, old man, stay away from my baby brother,” he shoos him away. Jaemin’s pouting now. “Hey, kiddo, I didn’t mean to upset you so much. I’m just trying to look out for you, you know?”

Jaemin nods. “Love you, hyung.”

“Love you too, bub. Want me to come over for a sleepover tonight? We can do games night and skincare?”

Done and dusted. Jaemin’s favourites.

“Can you make dinner?”

“I can buy it. I’m not going near another kitchen in my whole life,” Yuta shudders.

“Then go home," Taeyong comments on his way past. Yuta shakes his fist while Ten and Jaemin laugh at him. The world is against Yuta, he swears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coming up next: meet taeil and see the finale of the nomin adventures


	2. The Worrier and the Soother

Yuta knows Jeno loves Jaemin. He knows that Jaemin loves Jeno. He also knows that Jaemin is a hopeless romantic at heart and loves surprises. 

He doesn’t like sneaking around like this, not after what Hansol did to him in school. But Jeno had come to him asking for his help to ask Jaemin to be his boyfriend, and Yuta likes Jeno, so he decided to listen. The plan is… good. Solid. Not foolproof, but as close as it can get. And they know Jaemin will love this idea, especially if they come clean about working together afterwards. His boyfriend and his older brother getting along? Nothing better. 

But Yuta still finds himself feeling a bit down in the dumps when Jaemin has left for class and Ten has gone to see Johnny and he’s sitting there sipping his Yukkuri all alone in Neo. He has a book for class open in front of him, but he honestly can’t remember which class and is simply Too Emotionally Worn Out to look at it now. He’s feeling something, and he’s not sure what, but it’s not a good one, he thinks. Sighing, he starts packing up.

“Yuta-san, leaving already?” Taeyong asks. He has his apron and badge in hand and has lost the hat that’s part of his uniform, and looks a lot less dorky.

“Yeah, didn’t think I was going to get much work done and figured I’d go home and try catch up on some tv or sleep, maybe.”

“Thought you were having a sleepover at Jaemin’s tonight?”

“Were you listening to us after I told you to leave? Creep,” Yuta gasps, knowing full well that Taeyong was serving directly behind them as they discussed it and that they weren’t being quiet. That was another reason he loved Neo – they never complained about him being too loud there.

“Guess I was just so interested in why you decided to emotionally torture your brother,” Taeyong teases back. Yuta doesn’t answer him and makes to leave. “Woah, hey, I didn’t realise that was a thing. Are you… are you okay?”

Yuta shrugs. “I guess. I don’t like people taking jabs at us, we’ve been through a lot.”

“I’m sorry. Really,” and Taeyong does seem apologetic. Yuta relents and allows Taeyong to walk with him.

On the way back to the dorm buildings, Taeyong asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Yuta does, but not everything. They’re not that close. He knows Taeyong a little, but anything more than discussing mutual friends and superficial drama is too personal for them, he thinks. So he tells Taeyong the plan for Jaemin and Jeno, leaving out any personal details.

“That’s. Well. That’s a plan, for sure,” Taeyong says.

“Look, I don’t like going around behind my brother’s back, but – I think this time, it’s going to be okay, you know? Jeno just – I don’t want him to, I don’t know, have been lying this whole time and be using this as a way to publicly humiliate Jaemin, or to, like, turn out to be a stalker trying to kill him, or something, I don’t know,” Yuta babbles. He thinks he switched back to Japanese partway through that. He’s stressed.

“I think,” Taeyong says slowly, “I really think this will be just fine.” There’s so much honesty in his voice Yuta stops and looks at him.

“Really?”

“Really.” Taeyong looks back at Yuta. “I know Jeno pretty well, actually. He was in my old dance group and he comes to practice with us when he can’t make his own group’s schedule. He hangs out with us a lot. He talks about Jaemin.” This isn’t really news to Yuta, Jeno used to whine about how great Jaemin was to Ten as well. He didn't know Taeyong was in dance, though. “He gets this dumb lovey dovey look on his face when he talks. He’s not smart enough to plan to murder him,” Yuta snorts, “and I swear on my employee discount at Neo that he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.

“I think he really does just want to show Jaemin that he can be his hopeless romantic and that he’s going to profess his love,” Taeyong finishes. “Don’t feel bad. They’re good kids, they deserve each other, and from all the times Jaemin’s come in moaning about big grand gestures of love he sees in movies, I think he will love this surprise.”

“Thank you, Taeyong,” Yuta says quietly. “It… it means a lot.” And he means that. He does feel better, getting an outsider-but-not-really’s opinion. Taeyong has a very honest air about him that Yuta feels comforted by. 

They walk a bit more, reach campus, and go their separate ways. 

 

-

 

When Yuta walks inside his dorm, Taeil is on the couch napping, but he wakes up at the sound of the door closing. 

“How was phase two?” Taeil asks as he stretches and yawns. Yuta thinks he might be the cutest person in the world after Sicheng. They’re perfect for each other, and he doesn’t even have to set them up – they managed it on their own.

He smiles and ruffles his hyung’s hair. “Good, actually. Great. Jaemin’s in the right mood and the sleepover is go.”

“Still need me to be there to beat Jeno up if he turns out to be vermin?” Maybe Taeil isn’t so cute.

“I don’t think he will be, but it probably won’t hurt to have one more person to remind him to behave according to plan.” Yuta really does have faith in the boy. “Don't worry about it. Is Sicheng coming over?”

“Nah, I’m gonna head to his. Save you dealing with two sappy couples in one night.”

“Hyung, you know I don’t mind! You two are like my parents! You can hang out here if you want.” Yuta wishes Taeil didn’t pity him so much.

“Yeah, well, sometimes we can’t, you know,” Taeil says, trying very hard to be nonchalant.

Yuta rolls his eyes.

“So you want to fuck.” Taeil turns bright red but doesn’t deny it. “You can ask me to leave, you don’t have to spend all your time at his. He’s never here anymore. I miss my son.”

“First of all, he can’t be your parent and your son. Make up your mind. Second, talk to him – he asked me to go to his, it’s not like I don’t want to be here.”

Pouting, Yuta goes to his room to pack his supplies for the sleepover. He might not actually be spending the night there, but Jaemin doesn’t know that yet. “How’s the thesis going, hyung?” he calls out.

“Not bad, actually.” Taeil has moved to stand in Yuta’s doorframe. “Got an interview with someone from the dance department, finally. Who knew they were so busy.” 

“Oh, who is it?” Yuta asks absentmindedly, searching for the coffee body scrub he was saving for Jaemin’s birthday. The Nakamoto brothers had caffeine addictions that fed each other. “I used to practice with a bunch of them.”

“And yet when I asked you for contacts you said you didn’t have any,” Taeil’s voice is dry. “It’s Lee Taeyong.”

“Oh, I think I know him,” Yuta emerges from under his bed, scrub in hand. 

“Boy, you best not – ” Taeil is ready to pounce.

“Don’t hurt me!” Yuta cries. “I only know him from his work, not dance! I swear!”

The threat of tickles strikes a fear like no other into his heart.

“Work?” Taeil says slowly.

“Work,” Yuta confirms. “You know the coffee shop I always go to, Neo? He’s one of the main baristas there. I swear I didn’t know him from dance. I barely know him at all, really. I only found out he does dance today.” Yuta's still surprised he didn't know that before. 

“Fine.” Taeil grabs him anyway and pulls him onto Yuta’s bed for them to sit with arms around each other. 

Yuta looks down at the little pack of coffee, essentially, in his hand, and sighs.

“Are you really okay with this Jaemin thing, Yuta?”

“I think I will be, hyung. This just – it has to work. It just has to.”

 

-

 

“Hyungie, do you really think Jeno doesn’t like me?” Jaemin says quietly.

The brothers are in Jaemin’s dorm, Yuta on the couch and Jaemin on the floor in front of him, Yuta giving him a massage and both of them with clay masks on. Jaemin’s roommate is apparently a massive nerd and is still studying at the library at 8pm. They’re watching Legally Blonde, because Jaemin’s THAT law student.

“You know I don’t know how much he likes you, baby,” Yuta responds. “He’s his own person. But he’d be stupid not to love every single bit of you.” He presses a kiss to the crown of Jaemin’s head, and the younger squirms away and bemoans being treated as a child. While Yuta was away at college and Jaemin was back home at school, he grew up a lot, but Yuta still sees his baby Jaeminnie peek out every now and then.

“But you know,” Yuta continues, “It’s okay if he doesn’t like you as much yet. Relationships work like that sometimes. You like someone more than they like you, or the other way around. You have to wait for a sign to show you it’s the right time, let them come to you, whatever it is. But be patient, baby. You’ll get the man of your dreams.”

“Thanks, hyungie,” Jaemin sighs. He seems a bit more content, but keeps gnawing on his lip. At that moment, Yuta’s phone lights up with a text from Ten. Two bird emojis – Renjun and Jeno are on their way. “Ten’s weird, have I told you that?”

“I’m well aware,” Yuta chuckles. “Come on, let’s get these face masks off, yeah? It has to have been half an hour by now.” Yuta wants Jaemin to feel gorgeous when Jeno gets here.

And oh, boy has he timed this perfectly. They’re just walking back into the living room when Yuta’s phone vibrates again. He doesn’t get time to read it before they hear a knock on the door. Jaemin looks at Yuta.

“Did you invite someone?”

“Nu uh.”

Jaemin goes and peeks through the peephole. “There’s no one there. Just…” He opens the door and picks up the cardboard box with a note taped to it. “‘Go to your window’?”  
He looks back at Yuta, who shrugs. 

Jaemin shuffles over, looks outside, and gasps. “It’s Jeno, hyungie!” He pulls open the window.

The familiar chords of [Kiss Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-qO3sPMjc) float in through the window, and Jeno begins. 

“Na Jaemin, you’re the kindest and most loving person I’ve ever met…”

Yuta doesn’t stick around. He’s satisfied that Jeno won’t fuck it up now, and this is Jaemin’s moment. He’s written his own note for Jaemin telling him he loves him and to enjoy the night (but not too much – Yuta’s still his older brother), so he grabs his bag and sneaks out and back to his own dorm room. He also doesn’t want to be around when the rest of the building’s tenants start to get annoyed at the loud music and sappy love scene.

So he’s found himself back in his own dorm, Taeil gone with Sicheng, Jaemin having the time of his life with Jeno (Yuta got a text with a thumbs up and ‘thx hyung’ from Jeno, and a mass of exclamation points and love hearts from Jaemin. He’s counting this as a success), Ten with Johnny, and he’s in bed with the lights out feeling… something. 

Yuta doesn’t think he’s lonely. He’s been lonely. When they first moved to Korea, when he went back to Japan to live with his dad, when he came back to go to college. He doesn’t think that’s what this is. He doesn’t like feeling like he doesn’t have people who love him, and he knows he does.

He’s probably just sad his younger brother is growing up, Yuta reasons with himself. And it’s natural. Just let him do his thing.

He doesn’t really feel better for his stellar pep-talk, so he rolls over and goes to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was almost 1000 words longer than it is now. ur welcome.  
> also y e s i couldnt bring myself to write jenos speech but yall know it was cheesy as fuck. like . gross levels of 'ur my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when skies are grey' kinda cute bullshit. its what jaemin deserves


End file.
